Nerd Alert World

⚠️ Spoiler Alert: This review may contains spoilers. ⚠️ Oh, NOW I understand this version of Hal Jordan. After spending most of this season digging into John Stewart, his childhood, his family, his anger, his ambitions and ultimately his complicated relationship with the Green Lantern Corps, Episode 7, “The Jordan Boys’ Legacy,” finally turns its attention toward Hal. And I loved it. This episode doesn't excuse everything Hal has done.

⚠️ Spoiler Alert: This review may contains spoilers. ⚠️ I really should have seen this coming. After the absolute batshit insanity that was “Lights Out,” I was so caught up in the excitement that I apparently forgot one important rule of storytelling: eventually, you have to let the audience breathe. That is essentially what Lanterns Episode 6, “Bad Optics,” does. It's not a bad episode. Far from it.

“When one reaches absolute power, one loses total contact with reality.”– Gabriel García Márquez At sixty-four years of age, Tom Cruise remains one of the most prominent and successful action stars in history. He is one of the few remaining true movie stars whose name alone can draw a crowd. It seems these days audiences have taken more notice of directors over actors like Christopher Nolan, Denis Villeneuve, Mike Flanagan, and Zach Cregger to name a few (As a cinephile, I think this is good news.

⚠️ Spoiler Alert: This review may contains spoilers. ⚠️ If the premiere of Brothers was about establishing the wonderfully dysfunctional relationship between Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey, Episode 2 is where the show really starts having fun with it. The seed has officially been planted. Ma Mac told Woody that she knew his father, Charles Harrelson. Woody understandably wants some clarification on exactly what "knew" means. Unfortunately, Ma Mac isn't interested in providing it.

⚠️ Spoiler Alert: This review may contains spoilers. ⚠️ There are some stories so strange that Hollywood couldn't come up with them if it tried. The long-running possibility that Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey might actually be half-brothers certainly qualifies. A good portion of the population probably already knows the story. McConaughey's mother, affectionately known as Ma Mac, apparently knew Woody's father, Charles Harrelson, back in the day.

There are comic book milestones, and then there is The Amazing Spider-Man #1000. More than six decades after Peter Parker first learned that with great power must also come great responsibility, Marvel's flagship Spider-Man title is about to reach a number that very few comic books will ever see. One thousand issues. Think about that for a second. One thousand issues of Peter Parker swinging through New York.

There is a glaring, cavernous hole in modern cinema, and it’s shaped exactly like a $50 million adult thriller. For the last decade, Hollywood has been trapped in a self-inflicted, polarized barbell strategy. On one end, studios happily cut micro-budgets for indie horror sensations; on the other, they blindly dump a quarter of a billion dollars into bloated, focus-grouped franchise sequels that must please everyone from toddlers to global financiers just to break even.

“In the event you actually have a child, your next battle will be to live life for your causes… or live it for theirs.” — Joe, Lioness PLEASE BE AWARE OF THE SPOILER WARNING DETAILING THE FINAL SCENE OF THE EPISODE. IT'S AT THE END OF THE ARTICLE. DEFINITELY WATCH THE EPISODE FIRST. The architecture of a Taylor Sheridan finale rarely accommodates the luxury of a clean slate; instead, it offers the cold, mathematical inventory of systemic ruin.

“Indecision is the thief of opportunity, but it is also the architect of disaster.” – Adapted from Cicero The very topic of video game-adapted movies is a contentious one. And by contentious, I mean that studios generally have no earthly idea what they’re doing. There is a persistent blind spot for Hollywood executives when it comes to video games; they simply cannot seem to get out of their own way.

⚠️ Spoiler Alert: This review may contains spoilers. ⚠️ What the hell did I just watch? Seriously. Lanterns Episode 5, “Lights Out,” just threw a grenade into everything the series has been building and then stood back to admire the explosion. And I absolutely loved it. We are only five episodes into this season, yet “Lights Out” feels like the kind of episode most shows would save for their finale.